Documents show multiple injuries to Boston bomb suspect

Aug. 20, 2013
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Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev raises his hand from a boat at the time of his capture by law enforcement authorities in Watertown, Mass., on April 19. / Sean Murphy, Massachusetts State Police via AP

by Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

by Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev suffered multiple serious injuries before his capture, including a skull fracture and a gunshot to the face, according to newly unsealed court documents.

The 19-year-old was caught in a shootout with police four days after the April 15 bombings, yet managed to escape in a car. He was captured the next day while hiding in a boat in the backyard of a home in Watertown, Mass.

His 27-year-old brother, Tamerlan, was killed during the earlier confrontation with police.

The pair were being sought in connection with the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15 that killed three people and injured more than 250.

Details of the younger Tsarnaev's injuries were contained in testimony given shortly after his arrest by Stephen Ray Odom, a trauma surgeon who treated Tsarnaev at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The transcript of his testimony was ordered unsealed Monday.

"He has multiple gunshot wounds, the most severe of which appears to have entered through the left side inside of his mouth and exited the left face, lower face," Odom said, according to the transcript.

"This was a high-powered injury that has resulted in skull-base fracture, with injuries to the middle ear, the skull base, the lateral portion of his C1 vertebrae, with a significant soft-tissue injury, as well as injury to the pharynx, the mouth, and a small vascular injury that's been treated," he testified.

Odom also treated Tsarnaev for several days after he was taken to the hospital.

"He has multiple gunshots (sic) wounds to the extremities that have been treated with dressing to the lower extremities; and in the case of his left hand, he had multiple bony injuries as well that were treated with fixation and soft-tissue coverage, as well as tendon repair and vascular ligation," Odom told the court.

Tsarnaev, who is being held at a prison medical facility in Devens, Mass., pleaded not guilty on July 11 to bomb-related charges found in a 30-count federal indictment.